…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Literature Map

Literature Map is a web tool that lets you type in the name of an author you like, click enter, and then a “cloud” of additional author’s names is displayed. The closer a name is to the one you entered, the more likely you’re supposed to like him/her.

This might be an interesting tool to use in my mainstream ninth grade English class and with my more advanced English Language Learner students. Of course, in my experience, just looking a book you like on Amazon’s website will get you a lot of good recommendations. But I think my students would like the cloud visualization.

That is, they’d like it if Literature Map included any young adult writers. It didn’t recognize any popular young adult authors I entered, but it did know a number of authors that are my favorites. I hope they’ll be adding more authors of the kinds of books my students like.

Thanks for trying it out and leaving the feedback. I have to admit it’s been a little while since I tried it out (I wrote the post earlier and just scheduled it for a later date) so it’s possible they expanded their database. I just went back and checked out some of my student’s favorite authors and they were in there now, too.

No problem. My one big concern with that site is the number names spelled incorrectly. That being said, as a librarian, I could imagine using this tool for those students who say “What’s another book like…” or “What’s another writer like…”

My Second Book On Student Motivation!

My Second Book On Teaching ELLs

My book, "The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide: Ready-to-Use Strategies, Tools, and Activities for Teaching English Language Learners of All Levels," (co-authored by Katie Hull Sypnieski) was published in the Summer of 2012